Dissident Voice

October 18, 2003

General William Boykin is a disaster for America, for the military and for the world. The man is ignorant at best; he speaks of things of which he knows not, misrepresents both Christianity and Islam and his rhetoric is nothing less than hate speech that borders on violations of the hate speech and hate incitement laws of America.

At a time when most of the Muslim world believes that America is actually making war on Islam—they point out that all of the American attacks have been on Muslim countries, or Muslim areas of other countries (the Philippines) and warnings of pre-emptive strikes have been made against Muslims countries (Indonesia, Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Malaysia), the anti-Islamic behavior of America is further reinforced by the speech of General Boykin who calls Muslims and Islam, followers of Satan; says that the Somali warlord, who was allegedly and most likely a Muslim, a worshipper of idols (which is far from the truth, Islam is against idolatry and forbids even such idols as the Christians have with crosses and symbols of Christianity), and is sure that his Christianity (which is far different from that of members of the National Council of Churches and the Catholic Church, none of which have the hatred that Boykin showed, nor the ignorance), will conquer the devilish religion of Islam in this Holy War that he is fighting!

Astounding, yes. But it is no less the black and white of his bosses, Rumsfeld and President Bush; there’s was, “If you’re not with me, you’re against me.” In the case of Boykin, because many Muslims in the world resist American occupation and domination, they are obviously the “enemy,” and must be “destroyed” by his almighty hand, the “hand of God.” Oh yes, Bush is president because God put him there to lead this great crusade (something that even Bush does not claim, and even he finally shied away from the word, “crusade,”, but not Boykin).

Boykin’s rhetoric is of the absoluteness of his righteousness; anything else is of the party of the devil. But his is a blind hatred born of his ignorance of Islam. He claims Islam worships idols; little does he realize that Islam is one of the Abrahamic religions, and that Muslims worship the same God as the Jews and Christians. I’m also sure that when he gets around to it, General Boykin will also take off after the orthodox Jews (though he loves the Zionists, that many orthodox Jews decry) because he will accuse them of killing Christ (as did so many evangelistic Christians until recent times). Also, he seems to have forgotten that he didn’t win in Somalia; the Somalis won because America had to leave with a bigger mess left behind than when they entered the situation.

Boykin’s speech is one of hatred as well. This speech, something that Rumsfeld defended as “freedom of speech,” is actually hate speech and could stimulate others to hate crimes—thus, General Boykin and his uneducated boss, Rumsfeld, both should be taken to the woodshed and thrashed with our American laws. Boykin should be removed from his “war on terrorism,” because he’ll make more anti-Americanism than he will stop and Rumsfeld should be asked to resign because of his lending his hand to not condemning or censuring General Boykin for his offensive, hate-filled remarks before the Christian group.

Add to this that Boykin was in uniform, but talking like a private citizen and blurring the lines that divide church and state in America; thus, he offended our very Constitution and threatened the civil and safety rights of Muslims in America and in the world. Do not think that this speech will be forgotten in the Muslim world. One must remember, in more traditional societies, things are not forgotten the way they are forgotten in our TV driven western world of the U.S. and England; people in traditional societies have long memories and patience, patience that will allow them to wait until the right moment to respond to such heresies and lies.

General Boykin’s false and dangerous hate-filled rhetoric, that was done without apology or redress by Rumsfeld, Bush and Ashcroft, is yet another brick in the wall that will continue to separate America from the Muslim world, and make clear to others in the world just how ignorant of other cultures America truly is.

Prof. Sam Hamod, retired Director of The Islamic Center of Washington, DC, and a retired professor at Princeton, Michigan and Iowa, was also editor of 3rd World News in DC and now edits, www.todaysalternativenews.com; he may be reached at shamod@cox.net

Sam Hamod was the editor of 3rd World News (D.C.); professor at Princeton, Michigan & Iowa; Director of The Islamic Center of D.C.; he may be reached at shamod@cox.net

Dissident Voice

October 18, 2003

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